Page 115 of Angel's Flight

Now that wasn’t a detail Erik had shared with Christine, and it was certainly troubling.

“And you believed him?”Bidaut asked, face bright with suspicion.“You didn’t think it was some ruse to hide the funds?This place can’t possibly be worth what he had.”

“We kept some,” Erik began cautiously.“Around a hundred thousand Francs, to sustain us.”

Bidaut gave a satisfied grin and raised the aim of his pistol.It made excitement surge through Christine, not from fear, but because she knew they had him.“A hundred thousand will be more than sufficient for Madame de Martiniac’s needs.”

“We still need to live,” Erik scoffed.Christine grabbed his arm, making a show of it as if she objected.“I will give her twenty if I can be done with you.”

“Fifty,” Bidaut countered, and Christine held her breath.“Final offer.Do it and our business is concluded and you can go on your way.”

“How do we know you won’t come after us again?”Christine asked, still terrified.“Or that you won’t reveal us?”

“Because if he does, I will kill him,” Erik said simply, darkness in his voice that would send a chill up the bravest spine.He advanced on Bidaut, unbothered by the gun aimed at his chest, and removed his mask.He was showing the man the face of his doom.

“Erik,” Shaya whispered, sounding as worried as Christine felt.

“I will kill him slowly if he ever comes back near me or my wife again,” Erik went on, and Bidaut gulped.“And I will take a lesson from him too.Before I let him die, I will hurt him.I’ll find someone he loves – everyone he loves – and I will ruin them and leave them to rot.I will destroy everything he has and not feel a shred of regret.”

Christine wanted Erik to be lying.She wanted that awful threat to be part of the ruse, part of the desperate attempt to win their peace, but there was a dark corner of her heart that knew it was true.She was wed to a man still capable of murder, but only if someone was foolish enough to threaten her.It should have made her ashamed, or scared, yet all the knowledge gave her was a thrill.Was this what power felt like?

Bidaut took an unsteady breath and looked at Christine, perhaps for some sign of weakness or a signal that she would keep her husband at bay.“I will be happy to help him,” she added instead, and any resolve left in Bidaut’s face disappeared like morning mist before the sun.

“It is agreed then,” Bidaut whispered.“Fifty thousand.”

“And other incidental payments and promises owed,” Erik added with a look to Pauline that enticed a satisfied smile from her.He wasn’t going back on their deal.

“Let us sort out the details as soon as we can,” Bidaut said and finally put away his gun.

Sligo

The bank was quiet, so late at night, though Shaya could hear a chorus of frogs echoing from some distant bog through the open window.The building itself was humble but sturdy, and Shaya could honestly not be critical, as he was pleased a town like this had a bank at all.Even so, Shaya didn’t think they endured dramatic requests such as this very often.

Erik handed over the truly staggering amount of cash to Bidaut first, with nary a complaint or even a sarcastic quip.It took all of Shaya’s composure to not ask if something was wrong with the man, but he kept quiet until the deal was done and the bewildered banker showed them all out into the street.Well, almost all of them.Erik lingered behind for a moment, as Shaya waited next to Bidaut and the woman called Pauline under Christine’s watchful eye.

“I assume our friend is free to go now?”Christine asked impatiently, glancing to where Bidaut had his hand on his hidden revolver in his pocket.

“Our business is concluded, yes,” Bidaut sighed, and raised both his empty hands.

“Praise Allah,” Shaya muttered to himself and removed himself from Bidaut’s proximity.It was a relief to stand by Christine instead and receive the gift of her smile.

“What of my business?”Pauline asked pointedly, as if it was a threat.

“It’s being attended to now,” Christine answered without missing a beat.

“You don’t have to indulge her anymore,” Bidaut said, sounding utterly annoyed with Pauline.“I assure you that as of now, she is no longer employed by the Pomeroy agency.”

“You think I wanted to be after this?”Pauline shot back.“Idiot.”

Bidaut shook his head.“Have you ever noticed how those who are aware of their own defects, yet unwilling to change themselves, tend to insult others with barbs that only apply to themselves?”

“I have noticed that,” Christine replied.“But as much as I would like to stay here and discuss dear Pauline’s faults, I would like to never see your face again.Please leave.”

“Without a goodbye to your illustrious husband?”Bidaut smiled, then frowned as a shadowy figure emerged from the bank.

“Goodbye,” Erik intoned as he came to loom next to Christine.“Never trouble us again.”

Bidaut gave the couple one more circumspect look, then nodded.It was bold of him to turn his back on a man who could so easily kill him and walk away down a dark street with a small fortune in a valise, but that was his problem now.

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